Warriors: Breath
by momoxtoshiro
Summary: Keep your eyes open Fireheart. Keep your ears pricked. Keep looking behind you. Because one day, I'll find you, and then you'll be crowfood." You Are Fire, Only Water Can Destroy You...Fire Alone Will Save Our Clan..."Buestar! NO!" Breaking Benjamin.


**Finally! After all these years, I've finally written my first Warrior's fic! I actually had another one in mind for years but never wrote it. We'll see about that based on my feedback for this one :3 Probably would be best to say SPOILERS for A Dangerous Path. You should probably read that before this fic. Also, reading Bluestar's Prophecy will clear up quite a bit as well. The style I chose to write it in differs from the books so be warned. Not really any pairings, just some quick FireheartxSandstorm thrown into one line :3**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN WARRIORS! I did use some direct quotes from the books so don't sue me plzkaythnx. Songfic song by Breaking Benjamin.**

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Breath

Fireheart remembered all the times he had set paw into Bluestar's den as though they were all reflections in a clear river.

But never before had he seen her like this.

Her pelt was matted and her nest was unkempt, a half-eaten piece of fresh-kill lay on the ground as though it had been tossed aside.

Her blue eyes were hollow and wide with terror, and when Fireheart looked into them it was like staring down into a deep, gaping pit no cat could see the bottom of.

_**I see nothing in your eyes, **_

_**And the more I see, the less I like,**_

_**Is it over yet, in my head?**_

He remembered how the ThunderClan leader had made Cloudtail a warrior, but had completely ignored Swiftpaw, simply because he was Longtail's apprentice.

She had just about gone as mad as a fox, and the Clan knew it.

Her foreboding words when he had reported finding Brindleface's slaughtered body just outside the gorse tunnel that morning rang throug his ears:

"_So Brindleface is dead. Soon the rest of the Clan will follow her. StarClan have sent Tigerstar to destroy us. They will not help us now."_

_**I know nothing of your kind,**_

_**And I won't reveal your evil mind**_

_**Is it over yet? I can't win**_

He remembered the eerie silence of the forest just heartbeats before his plan had began to unfold to lure the dogs to their destruction.

It was then when Graystripe had streaked out of the distant bushes, his belly so low to the ground he was barely visible. Three fox-lengths behind him, the leader of the pack snapped at his tail.

"StarClan help me!" Fireheart murmured as he shot out from his hiding place.

Graystripe had just scrambled up a tree to safety, and now all Fireheart could do was run. His belly flopped over and the blood was roaring in his ears from panic, but determination glowed in his green eyes. _Please, StarClan!_ He prayed as he darted away from the clicking teeth. _Don't let any other cat get involved now!_

And then, with all intentions to end the pack once and for all, he took off full speed toward the gorge.

_**So sacrifice yourself, and let me have what's left**_

_**I know that I can find, the fire in your eyes**_

_**I'm going all the way, get away, please**_

The gorge was nearby and Fireheart slackened his pace a bit to let the dogs catch up.

_Pack, pack! Kill, kill!_ The words Cinderpaw had spoken sent a stab of pain through him, piercing his heart like a claw.

Then, something heavy bowled him over and Fireheart struggled to keep his balance, but was forced into the dust, his breath flying from his lungs. He shivered inwardly as he realized who his attacker was; the one cat who had betrayed them all.

Fireheart had never really trusted him, but there had been a few times when he had admired Tigerstar, maybe even _considered_ trusting him. Now, he knew that only the most mouse-brained, fox-hearted of cats would ever consider trusting such a murderous creature.

Some of Tigerstar's last departing words rang through Fireheart's ears now;

"_Keep your eyes open, Fireheart. Keep your ears pricked. Keep looking behind you. Because one day, I'll find you, and then you'll be crowfood."_

_**You take the breath right out of me**_

_**You left a hole where my heart should be**_

Tigerstar seemed to glow with smug satisfaction as he pinned the orange warrior down.

"Going somewhere, Fireheart?" He sneered. The ThunderClan deputy wriggled underneath the ShadowClan leader's great weight. "Greet StarClan for me." Growled the tabby warrior.

"Only after you!" Fireheart snarled.

He was shocked when Tigerstar actually released him and wondered if the former ThunderClan deputy was getting soft or just weak. But the dark tabby spun around and pelted up the nearest tree instead of facing Fireheart to fight; the dogs were coming.

With no time to run, Fireheart braced himself as sharp teeth closed around him and shook him like a piece of prey. The spinning world seemed to stop only for a second, log enough for him to meet Tigerstar's amber gaze from the tree he sat in.

The tabby warrior's eyes were shining with satisfaction and confidence, and he looked ready to watch his biggest rival be torn to shreds, piece by piece.

_**You've got to fight just to make it through**_

_**Cause I will be the death of you**_

Firestar yowled with agony as the dog shook him violently from side to side, and he lost all sense of direction.

Everything was blurry and he could feel blood seeping out from under his fur.

To add to his dismay, he realized that not only was this the end for him, but it as the end for his entire Clan as well. His plan had failed. How many of his cats would die? The elders would be no match for these dogs and the warriors and apprentices wouldn't be able to hold them off for very long.

With a pang of grief, stronger then the pain he was feeling, Fireheart remembered Princess, and wished he could say goodbye to his sister. He would miss Cloudtail's eagerness and his mouse-brained courage. Cinderpaw, his own apprentice; he never fully got to tell her just how proud of her he was. Graystripe, his best friend, they'd been through so much and there would have still been so much left ahead.

And Sandstorm…Fireheart had too many regrets to recall.

Tigerstar would rule over the forest, and the four Clans would be crumbling at his paws.

_**This will be all over soon**_

_**Pour salt into the open wound**_

_**Is it over yet? Let me in**_

Bluestar stared in horror from where she stood among the bracken at the top of the slope, watching as Fireheart was being tossed around like some kit's plaything.

_No! Not that one! You cannot use him as prey! _She exploded from the bushes and launched herself at the lead dog with a yowl of defiance. The surprised creature parted its jaws and dropped Fireheart who lay stunned in the dust. Then he looked up, "Bluestar!" His leader was slashing at the dog's muzzle hissing curses, her eyes blazing with fury like a fire.

Then, he stared in horror as the soft earth gave way beneath the dog's weight and panic filled its wild eyes as it slid over the edge. It yelped in fear, but was obviously not going down alone.

Jaws snapped closed around Blustar's foreleg and dragged her down. Cold wind blasted her as she fell over the cliff, but she heard several other of the dogs hurl themselves off as well.

Bluestar was vaguely aware of Fireheart screeching her name before she hit the freezing water below.

_**So sacrifice yourself, and let me have what's left**_

_**I know that I can find, the fire in your eyes**_

_**I'm going all the way, get away please**_

Bluestar struggled feebly against the current, seeing several of the dogs go under and never resurface.

Water filled her lungs and a wave crashed overhead and sent her down into the depths of the river again. Her aching paws flailed, clawing the water as though she could get a grip on it. Lungs screaming for air, she was just about to give in to StarClan with her last life until she felt teeth meet her scruff.

"Keep your head up." Fireheart growled through a mouthful of fur. Struggling to obey, Bluestar paddled with him and as he struck out toward the shore. She felt the rough fur of a dog flow past her paws but she pushed onward. But Fireheart's grip on her was getting weaker and she could tell he was too exhausted to be able to make it to land. They both knew they were going to drown.

Suddenly, Bluestar's weight disappeared from his mouth and Fireheart's eyes snapped open with panic. Instead of seeing his leader's dead body floating before him, he saw her swimming strongly against the current. But it wasn't Bluestar he saw, he realized; it was Mistyfoot!

"We've got her now." Stonefur's voice sounded from his other side. Together, the two RiverClan warriors dragged Bluestar onto the shore and Fireheart finally pulled himself out alongside them. The sodden warrior was breathless, but the sight of his leader's still, soaken body made him believe that she had even less breath then he did.

And it was all his fault.

_**You take the breath right out of me**_

_**You left a hole where my heart should be**_

_**You've got to fight just to make it through**_

_**Cause I will be the death of you**_

"Bluestar!" Mistyfoot cried out.

"Is she dead?" Fireheart managed to croak.

"I think she-" Stonefur was cut off as another yowl sounded from behind him

"Fireheart! Fireheart! Watch out!" Graystripe's warning sent the orange warrior whirling around to see his gray friend chasing after Tigerstar over the Twoleg bridge until Graystripe cut him off a few fox-lengths away. "Get back!" the ThunderClan tom snarled. "Don't go near them."

Tigerstar hissed, enraged as Mistyfoot called out that Bluestar was still alive.

"Keep him here." Fireheart ordered and Graystripe nodded as he raced back over to Bluestar's side. He prayed to StarClan that she'd be okay, and he only just seemed to realize how much he despised Tigerstar as he turned his back on him. "Bluestar? Bluestar, it's Fireheart. It's okay now. You're safe." He whispered. Her blue eyes cracked open slowly, a dull glow of pride shining up at him through them.

"You saved me." She rasped.

"Shh. Don't talk." Mistyfoot soothed. But Bluestar took no notice of her words as she turned her fading gaze on the two RiverClan warriors. Goosefeather's prophecy rang through her head as she stared up at her children:

_You are fire…water will destroy you._

_**I'm waiting, I'm praying, realize, start hating**_

Fireheart listened with a heavy heart as Bluestar asked her son and daughter for forgiveness, and then it lifted a bit as they agreed,

"We forgive you."

That seemed to put the blue-gray she-cat at ease as her eyes blinked closed. That was all she had needed to hear.

Fireheart refused to let her die here like this, though, and he begged and pleaded for her not to join StarClan. _Not yet!_

Bluestar looked up at him with wise, tired eyes.

"_Fire will save the Clan_," she murmured, and suddenly wondered if Fireheart's prophecy and her own had anything in common. "You never understood, did you? Not even when I gave you your apprentice name, Firepaw. And I doubted it myself when fire raged through our camp. Yet I see the truth now. Fireheart, you are the fire who will save ThunderClan." A streak of sunlight burst through the clouds and turned his flaming pelt ablaze. "You will be a great leader," Bluestar went on weakly, the light beginning to fade from her eyes. "One of the greatest the forest has ever known…you will be Firestar, the light of ThunderClan." Her mew wavered near the end.

"No." He stared, wide-eyed down at his beloved leader. "I can't. Not without you."

But it was too late.

The light in her eyes was gone.

She had gone to hunt with StarClan, where Oakheart and so many others awaited her arrival.

_**You take the breath right out of me**_

_**You left a hole where my heart should be**_

_**You've got to fight just to make it through**_

_**Cause I will be the death of you. **_

There was a moment of dead silence before Mistyfoot let out a long, wailing sound.

Fireheart was frozen with shock and Graystripe padded slowly up beside him.

All heads were bowed, an no cat hardly took any notice when Tigerstar fled back across the bridge.

Fireheart was speechless for a while until he silently lifted his head.

_Yes Bluestar. I'll be the best leader ThunderClan and the entire forest has ever seen. I'll defeat Tigerstar and avenge your death, as well as all the other cats who died unjustly by his claws. _He vowed.

Puffing out his chest a bit, Firestar looked up at the sky.

The streak of sunlight seemed to brighten, and his pelt was blazed now more than ever as he promised to lead ThunderClan into a new era.

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**A/N: Changed his name at the end there, huh? :3 Sorry if some stuff was inacurate. I read A Dangerous Path years ago and only re-read a few parts real quick to write this. I just read Bluestar's Prophecy, which is connected to ADP in the prologue. This song reminded me of Warriors, and the chorus especially reminded me of Bluestar sacrificing herself for Fireheart. **

**Lemme know what you think and if I should write another.**

**Please reivew!!**


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